The present invention relates in general to graphic dot flare devices and, in particular, to a starburst processor for providing graphic dot flare for a digitized video display.
Typical video displays in which the display is changeable over a period of time have picture pixels which are arranged in rows and columns. Such displays can utilize a cathode ray tube, a light-emitting diode grid or liquid crystal elements. Such displays can be monochromatic or produce color by using groups of three pixels having red, green and blue colors as is well known in the art. A pixel can be defined as the smallest area of a digital display screen all of which has the same color wherein the term "color" means color value, hue or shade. The term implies that the color of an individual pixel may and can have a color different from that of any pixel adjacent to it in the display. Furthermore, the intensity of each physical pixel in the display can be varied. For a color graphics display, a group of three physical pixels such as adjacent red, green and blue pixels is termed a logical pixel to which a single intensity value is assigned.
In digital displays wherein the resolution of the display is determined by the number of horizontal and vertical pixels, certain graphic designs, such as a diagonal line, will appear to be "choppy" rather than smooth due to the digitized matrix pixel arrangement. It is known in the prior art that by causing adjacent pixels next to a selected pixel to have intensities reduced from the intensity of the selected pixel, an optical appearance of a smoother diagonal line can be created. This corresponds to the effect of dot flare, for example, in cathode ray tubes.
Although a number of different techniques for providing dot flare in graphic displays such as light-emitting diode or iquid crystal displays are known in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved dot flare apparatus for use in a digitized display.